Lasting-machine.



A. L. RUSSELL.

I LASTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3, 1908.

1,001,081 Patented Aug. 22, 1911. t

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A. L. RUSSELL.

LASTING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 3, 1908.

1,001,081 Patented Aug. 22, 1911.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR Il- RUSSELL, OF HYDE PARK, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY 00., OF PAT'ERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

LASTING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 22, 1911.

Application filed August 3, 1908. Serial No. 446,634.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR L. RUSSELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hyde Park, in the county of Norfolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Lasting- Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, isa specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to lasting machines and particularly to machines of the type which work adjacent portions of a shoe upper into lasted position successively by repeated operations of the machine. An example of this type of machine is shown and described in United States Letters Patent No. 584,744 to whichreference may be had for explanation and illustration of portions of the machine not herein described. The machine comprises a single pair of grippers, which after closing upon the stock, are

given an updrawing movement to pull the upper and an overdrawlng movement to lay it down upon the shoe innersole in position to be fastened. At the toe and sometimes at other portions of the shoe there is surplus upper 'material overworked that must be plaited or folded in to make it lie smoothly. For the purpose of plaiting the upper the grippers are given, by mechanism which can be set in operation at the will of the machine operator, a lateral movement from gripping position at one side of themedian line of the machine to releasing position at the other side. This lateral movement is accompanied by a turning movement'by which the gripped upper is twisted to form a plait which is widest at the end farthest from the edge of the shoe. Frequent and marked variations in the strength of shoe upper stock have led to the adoption of a yielding element in the train of mechanism by which the lateral movement is produced and also more recently to the provision of a yielding element in the gripper turning devices. springs act under different conditions of leverage and for this and other reasons are usually of difierent effective strength The conditions of operation also require quite frequent adjustment in order to get the best results. Care and some skill are, therefore,

required to obtain and maintain similar These two yielding qualities in.- the lateral movements and the turning movements of the grippers. In practice the time and attention required for this purpose are greater than the opera-v tor will give and the machine is therefore often run underconditions thatffail to give the best work; I

It is an object of this invention to remove the difficulties which have led to this common use ofith'e'machine ina condition less efl'ect'ivethan "it was intended to be and a feature of this invention consists in employ-, ing asingle 'yi'elding' element operatively connected with both the mechanism for laterally moving thegri'ppers and the mechanism for-turning the grippers. This provision insures that the two movements may be imparted to the grippers under the same conditions as to elasticity and that the intended relation between the turning movement and the lateral movement will be maintained instead of one movement being continued after the other has ceased because one spring was stronger than the other or was adjusted differently from the other Numerous advantages incident to this arrangement' will 'be obvious, including the relative simplicity of the construction when a' single spring, is'use'da'ndthe saving of timein adjusting one spring. instead of having to adjust two springs and get them both tothe same tension.

In the illustrated machine the plaiting movements are imparted to the grippers by oneactuator, which is a rocker relatively to which operative connections are adjustable toan eccentric position for causing said movements to be effe'cted'and to a concentric relation for suspendingthe plaiting movements.

of this invention yielding means is provided for operating the rocker or common actuator for said two sets of connections.

' The-characteristic features of the invention, including certain details'of construction' and combinations of: parts, will be explained in the following description of-so' much of the machine as is concerned with this invention and .will then be pointed out in the claims. 7

Figure 1 is a perspective view of so much of the mechanism as is needed for explaining this invention. Fig. 2 is a front view. Fig. 3 is a sect-ion on line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan partly in section. Fig. 5 is a modification.

The grippers, which are indicated at 10, receive their usual'lasting movements from drivingv connections which may be the same as those in said patent and include a lever 18 from the front end of which the grippercarrying bars are suspended, the outer tubular bar having a ball'and socket connection with the lever to permit freedom of movement. The inner bar or rod, which is connected to the movable gripper jaw, extends through said ball and through the lever 18, above which it is engaged by an arm 20 of a rockshaft for closing the gripper jaws, which are again opened by a spring 23 when the cam permits. The gripper bars extend through a sliding block 25 which is mounted to turn and to slide endwise in a yoke 26 at the front end of a sliding bar 28. These operating connections, it will be understood, give to the grippers their ordinary movements of lowering, closing, uplifting, and overlaying the upper into position to be fastened to the innersole of the shoe. For plaiting the upper the grippers are moved laterally and turned by devices connecting them with a rocker on the front end of a rockshaft 42, which is continuously actuated from a lever 43. This rocker holds an adjustable block 44 which can be shifted from a concentric position in the rocker, where it receives no operative movement, to an eccentric position on one or the other side of the center of rocking movement according to the direction in which it is desired to lay the plaits. This adjustment of the block in Figs. 1 and 2 is effected by a rod 45 extending through the rock shaft and having on its front end a pinion engaging teeth on the block, as is shown in Fig. 1. The rear end of the rod has operative connections with a manually controlled device for setting the block 44'. The block is connected to one end ofa yielding element 50, to the opposed portions of which are connected a rod extending to the sliding block 25, by which lateral movements are transmitted to the grippers, and a lever 66 fulcrumed at 68 and having at its upper end a rack bar 70 guided in the updraw lever 18 and held thereby in operative engagement with rack teeth on the ball head of the gripper bar. This connection turns the grippers coincidentally with their lateral movement for forming and laying a tapering plait. These movements are both effected through operative connections with the same yielding element 50, which includes in its construction a spiral spring 61 (Fig.4) inclosed in a casing the left-hand end of which is closed by an adjustable thimble 62 threaded into the casing. A rod 63, which is directly connected to the block 44 in the rocker, extends through a bearing in the right-hand endof the casing and through a loose disk 64, the spring 61,'and a second disk 65, beyond which it has a head 69. The bearing rod where it extends into the casing is threaded to receive an adjustable stop 67 through which the thrust of the rod and rocker is transmitted to the disk 64 and yieldingly through the spring 61 to the casing which is connected with the devices for turning and laterally moving the grippers. Pull of the rod 63 is transmitted to the right from its head 67 through the disk and spring 61 to the disk 64 and the casing. The thimble nut 62 has a hole for the reception of a pin by which the tension of the spring can be readily adjusted. V

In the further construction shown in Fig. 5 the rocker and its shaft 42 are yieldingly connected with the lever 43 from which they derive movement. This connection is formed by a pinion 51 which is loose on the rock shaft and has an arm 52 to receive a curved rod 53 held therein by a set screw'54. The rockshaft 42 has fast thereon a collar 55 having arms 56, 57 through which, also, the curved rod 53 extends. Springs 58 are mounted on the rod, one bet-ween the arm 52 and the arm 56, and the other between said arm 52 and the arm 57 whereby the movement of the lever 43 in'either direction is transmitted yieldingly to the rocker. A collar 59 holds the pinion 51 on the rockshaft. The yielding connections shown in Figs. 4 and 5 may both be employed if desired as each supplements the other Having explained the nature of this invention and described a construction embodying the same, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States:

1. A machine of the class described having, in combination, grippers, and operating mechanism therefor including means for turning the grippers, means for moving them laterally, and a single mechanical device common to said two meansfor insuring a uniformly yielding character to said two movements.

2. A machine ofthe class described having, in combination, grippers, and operating mechanism therefor including means for turning the grippers, means for moving them laterally, and a single spring through which the two movements are effected.

3. A machine of-the class described having, in combination, grippers, and operating mechanism therefor including means for turning the grippers, means for moving them laterally, a single spring through which the two movements are effected, and adjustable connections in said operating mechanism for varying the relative forces by which said two movements are yieldingly effected from said spring.

4. A machine of the class described having, in combination, grippers, and operating mechanism therefor, including means for yieldingly moving the grippers laterally, means for yieldingly turning the grippers, and means for simultaneously and in uniform degree changing the yielding quality of the two movements.

5. A machine of the class described having, in combination, grippers, a rocker, operating devices between the rocker and the grippers for actuating them, other operating devices between the rocker and the grippers for imparting to them a different movement, and a single yielding element operatively connected with the rocker and with both of said two sets of operating devices;

6. A machine of the class described having, in combination, grippers, a rocker, operating devices between the rocker and the grippers for actuating them, other operating devices between the rocker and the grippers for impart-ing to them a different movement, and a yielding member for actuating the rocker.

7 A machine of the class described having, in combination, grippers, a rocker, operating devices between the rocker and the grippers for actuating them laterally and turning them, said operating devices comprising the block 44, the rod 63, the spring 61, and the spring casing, all constructed and arranged to transmit the movement of the rocker yieldingly to the grippers in both directions.

8. A machine of the class described having, in combination, grippers, a rocker, operating devices between the rocker and the grippers for actuating them laterally and turning them, and means for yieldingly actuating the rocker in both directions.

9. A machine of the class described having, in combination, grippers, a rocker, operating devices between the rocker and the grippers for actuating them, and means for yieldingly actuating the rocker comprising the shaft 42, the collar 55 fast thereon and having the arms 56, 57, the pinion 51 loose on the rockshaft, the lever 43 having toothed engagement with the pinion, and the springs 58 intermediate between the arm 52 and the arms 56 and 57.

10. A lasting machine having in combination, grippers, closing and uplifting means therefor, a rocker, and separate operating devices between the rocker and the grippers to turn the grippers and to move them laterally, a power shaft for actuating the rocker, and a single spring in the connections between the power shaft and said separate operating devices to give a yielding quality both to the lateral movement and .to the turning movement.

11. A lasting machine having in combination, .a rock shaft, connections therefrom to the grippers for moving them laterally and for turning them, a power shaft, and a lever and spring connection between the power shaft and the rock shaft to actuate the latter for effecting yieldingly the lateral and the turning movement of the grippers.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ARTHUR L. RUSSELL.

Witnesses:

ELIZABETH C. COUPE, EMILE H. TARDIVEL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

